Black Ice
by pokemonsonicgirl123
Summary: Frame story. Iceland is sick and Hong Kong comes over to read fan fiction to him. Black Ice's true summary is that Iceland wakes up one morning to discover that he is blind, and Hong Kong attempts to help him cope with this. What neither of them know, is that Iceland's inner demon is sleeping, waiting until the time is right, and it could even shatter both their sense of selves.
1. -prologue-

Hello, it's me again, with a brand new fan fiction! =D This is a homage to the doujinshi Arthur in the Dark, so this is somewhat based off of it. The scanlation got deleted from Tumblr, so I tried to immortalize it through a Platonic!HongIce fan fiction. If I get enough hype from this, I'll continue with more. Please enjoy!

* * *

The ringtone of Hong Kong's cell phone blared in his ears, rudely rousing him from his sleep. Letting out an irritated groan, Hong Kong rubbed his eyes, but flinched as the spring morning sun entered his eyes. If you know Hong Kong by now, you can see that he is _not_ a morning person, compared to his best friend who lives on the other side of the world, Iceland. Speaking of him, he'd better not be the one calling on Hong Kong's cell phone or else he'll just shout at him to fuck off, because you know how cranky he is when woken up suddenly from his slumber.

"Who the fuck is calling me at this ungodly hour?" said Hong Kong sleepily with a hint of crankiness as he sat up, criss-crossed his legs under his bedsheets and picked up his Blackberry phone. "What is it, and this better be good or else I'm gonna come to your house and beat the living crap out of you for waking me up at 6:48 in the morning."

"Hong Kong, it's me, Miia, this is an emergency," a familiar female voice said on the other line."

At some point, Hong Kong felt relieved, as he felt bad for saying those things to his best human friend. Needless to say, that still doesn't explain why Miia Kyouko, of all people, would wake him up that early in the morning, especially when it's close to 7AM. "What emergency would that be, Miia?"

"Iceland's sick," Miia replied on the other line.

The Cantonese teen's tarnished gold eyes widened upon those words. Sick? Was there any problems with Iceland's economy or what? "Seriously?"

"Yes, and Iceland wants me to come to his house and take care of him! Thing is, I can't because number one, I've got school to go to, and number two, all of my classes are reviewing for finals!"

Hong Kong exhaled in irritation. "You could have just pretended you're sick, then!"

"And load myself with tons of review homework? The answer would be a fuck to the no!"

"Well, then, what the hell do you want me to do, the-?! Hold on, I've got another call."

"No, HK, don't-!"

Hong Kong already put Miia's call on hold and touched the green phone icon to pick up another call from someone else. "Hello, Hong Kong speaking."

"Li Xiao, I'm sick," a familiar strained voice said on the other line. Iceland.

Upon hearing this voice, Hong Kong immediately got out of his bed in his black "Bad Apple!" t-shirt and boxers with his flag printed on them. He felt worry, reluctance, and irritability well within him. While he is sorry for the poor ill Icelandic, he just cannot stand his incessant whining and complaining of whatever illness he has. One instance was when one of his volcanoes was erupting and has the stomach flu for three straight weeks.

After just one brief second of internal debate, Hong Kong answered back, imitating China's accent (though trying to hid his British accent), "H-Hong Kong's sleeping, this is Yao, aru! Why are you calling at this ungodly hour, aru?!"

"I need soup," Iceland replied on the other line weakly. "And someone to read fan fiction to me."

Hong Kong's expression dropped slightly. _Jeez Louise, please tell me he's kidding about the fan fiction part._ "Well, call your own big brother, aru!" He then promptly closed the call and touched the previous caller.

"I told you to not put me on hold, dumbass!" said Miia in an exasperated tone.

"Well, sorry, Ice called me next, I can't just ignore him like that!" replied Hong Kong with irritability.

"Ugh, well, okay, how about this, I go to school and you go to the Nordics' house or his apartment, depending on where he currently is, and you go and nurse him back to health. Please?"

Hong Kong fell silent once again, this time with a WTF expression on his face. Miia must be kidding, _him_ taking care of Iceland? Why can't the other Nordics take care of him since _he's_ sick? Finally, he said in monotone, "Either I am dreaming to else you've been possessed?"

"I'll be making potstickers tonight when I get home~"

The boy immediately brightened at the mention of potstickers and licked his lips as he smiled. "Thy will be done."

"Thanks, bye, HK!"

And then the call ended by Miia's account. Hong Kong sighed as he plopped down on his bed and thought about what he had just done. What in the heck possessed him to agree to this, especially when food is the award of this time? Then again, he just can't help but worry about Iceland. His economy is probably the source of his sickness and America would have to help give his funds to him to recover.

He then sat up and stretched his arms as he let out a yawn. "Well, if I can't take care of my best friend while he's sick, then no one can," he said out loud. "Besides, teacher's gonna be away for a while and I'm only doing this for the potstickers."

With those words, Hong Kong got up from his bed and walked up to his closet to pick out what clothes to wear for the day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*At Scandinavia*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hong Kong huddled his leather jacket a little closer in an attempt to shield himself from the cold. He dislikes cold weather, especially when it's spring and ironically, it's around 40-50 degrees out there. (The fact that it's a little windy didn't help his situation at all.) It was a lucky thing that he decided to bring his jacket along since the upper northern hemisphere is usually mildly cold, even when it's spring, compared to his city, which is mildly warmer and in the 70's.

As Hong Kong walked, he noticed the snow still melting on lawns of different houses and on the asphalt, creating streams and puddles of dirty water on the concrete sidewalks and roads. Since it's late March, it is no surprise to him, since he's been to this place many times before in the course of four years. He pretty much guessed that the snow had almost completely melted in the top half of the United States. Hong Kong then suddenly found himself smirking in amusement with the sudden image in his head of America jumping in the snow puddles.

Eventually, Hong Kong found this fairly large upper middle-class house, painted with earth colors, with a well-sized yard and a cobblestone path and steps. He knows this place. He's been there plenty of times. The Nordic house. He then sighed. Either Norway or Finland would be able to take care of Iceland, so him coming over won't be as necessary as both he and Miia stressed. But then, there's this tugging in the back of his mind that telling him to walk up there, knock on the door, come in and see Iceland. Hong Kong then exhaled to let out the stress on his chest, walked up the cobblestone path and steps and knocked on the cherry wood door using the brass knocker on it. _Better off to get this over with than to stand outside in the really cold spring,_ he thought.

The door opened to reveal Denmark with his usual goofy grin plastered onto his face. "Yo, Hong Kong, nice to see ya!"

Hong Kong lifted up his head a little so that he and the Dane are eye-level. "It's nice to see you, too, and I said call me by my human name Li Xiao."

"Yeah, right right, so come on in, Lukas and Berwald are just makin' lunch!"

"No, thanks, I already ate before coming here."

Denmark gestured the shorter one to come in and he complied, grateful for the sudden warmth of the house as the smell of something cooking entering his nostrils. Curiosity took over him as he entered the kitchen to see Sweden and Norway making some lunch, as stated by Denmark.

Norway, who was stirring whatever's in the fairly large saucepan, turned to look at Hong Kong, his soulless-looking blue-purple eyes gazing straight at his faded gold ones. "Hello, Li Xiao."

"Hi, Lukas," Hong Kong replied, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. "So I, um, heard from Miia that Ice's like, sick?"

A brief moment of perplexion flashed in Norway's eyes. "Well, yes, Emil is, so Berwald and I are making pea soup for him. I'm kind of curious on how Miia knows of this, though."

Hong Kong simply shrugged. "He probably called her that he's sick. Though she pretty much can't because she's got school to worry about, so she's called me to come over and check on Ice and so I did."

"I see."

"Though in hindsight, I almost didn't want to come over because I could barely stand his incessant whining and complaining about how sick he is."

Norway's lips looked slightly curled into a smile. "Well, he does that sometimes. The only times when he doesn't, though, is when he's resting."

"_When he's resting," he says,_ Hong Kong thought begrudgingly. He suddenly remembered one thing regarding Iceland's illness. "Was… was there any problems with Ice's economy or something like that?"

"I asked him that question, and he says that it really isn't," Norway began explaining. "He also says that it's the time of the season, so it does explain why he's sick and miserable."

Hong Kong silently breathed a sigh of relief. So it's just a seasonal illness, and not Iceland's economy. Then again, it does feel unnecessary just come here and check on Iceland and take care of him- Actually, he can blame Miia on their Tumblrs when all this is over.

But before the Cantonese teen boy can decide, he heard Finland come down the stairs and entered the kitchen with a thermometer in hand.

"How is Emil doing?" Norway asked.

"Just the same," replied Finland, with concern in his tone. "His fever isn't even going down, though."

"Did you give him some medicine?"

"No, not yet."

"Hold up," Hong Kong spoke up. "Tino, you said Ice like, has a fever, right? Is one of his volcanoes erupting again?"

Tino immediately smiled. "Li Xiao, I didn't know you're here already!"

"Well, Denmark let me in, but more importantly, since Ice has a fever, it would mean that one of his volcanoes is erupting, right?"

"I… can't say whether he has, so I've never checked the news about it," the Finn said apologetically. He then turned to Norway, "Is the soup ready?"

The Norwegian man lifted the steel ladle from the pot as he looked at his Finnish housemate. "Just about."

Sweden behind him reached to get the bowls out of the cabinet.

"So, this soup is generally for Ice, right?" Hong Kong asked.

"Originally, yes," replied Norway. "But then Tino and Mathias wanted some, so I enlisted Berwald's help in making more of it."

Hong Kong simply blinked, somewhat pokerfaced. "I see."

As Norway carefully scooped up the pea soup and poured it into one of the bowls Sweden gave him, Hong Kong suddenly found himself thinking that he needs to see Iceland ASAP. So he then asked, "Should I bring up the soup to Ice upstairs? Since he's like, feeling sick and all?"

Norway bit his lip in thought. "Well, I was thinking either having Tino or myself bring it up to him, but since you're here, yeah, you can."

Hong Kong let a small smile form on his face. "Thanks."

The Norwegian man set the bowl of hot pea soup on a neatly folded cloth and placed a spoon in it. "Careful, it's still hot."

"I'll be sure to warn Ice of that, then," said Hong Kong.

With those words, Hong Kong picked up the hot bowl carefully and went up the stairs to the second floor. Since he and Iceland have been the best of friends for quite a long time, it shouldn't be a challenge for him to find Iceland's bedroom, which is the third door to the right between Norway's and Sealand's and Ladonia's bedrooms (and neither should be carrying a bowl of steaming hot pea soup with a folded hand towel underneath, since he's been through approximately a couple decades of martial arts training under China's wing).

Hong Kong braced himself for the whining and complaining that's yet to come as he shifted one hand under the bowl and freed another just so he can knock on Iceland's door.

"Who is it?" a raspy, accented voice spoke up on the other side of the door.

"No one needs to worry, it's just me," replied Hong Kong. "I also got some soup for you."

"Well, thanks, just leave it at the door."

The Cantonese boy promptly ignored this and opened the door to let himself into Iceland's bedroom. Mr. Puffin, who was sitting in his bird bed, looked rudely awakened by this and stared at the Hongkonger coldly, but nonetheless ruffled his feathers again and went back to sleep to continue on his nap. The trash can beside Iceland's bed and in front of his nightstand was nothing but crumpled tissues, a few of them on the floor, having missed the wide opening of the trash can. Iceland lay in his bed, under his white and navy blue sheets, his silver-white hair messier than ever, his porcelain skin glistening slightly in the cloudy sunlit sky. His berry-purple eyes looked sullen and miserable, but looked like they were piercing into Hong Kong's soul.

Iceland frowned as he tried to sit up and prop his back against the bedboard, but not before he got into a coughing fit and sniffled hereafter. "I said leave it at the door!"

Hong Kong flashed a playful smile. "You did. I chose to ignore it, so I'm bringing it over to you." He then placed the soup onto the nightstand. "So, how ya feeling?"

"Thanks," Iceland replied in a nasal voice, with his nose being stuffed. "Just terrible. Not as bad as when one of my volcanoes erupted which wound me at bed rest for three weeks all the while barfing and with the most frequent trips to the toilet, but still pretty miserable."

"Along with my infamous joke of the year that's going into the jokebook," said Hong Kong with a giggle.

"I am _never_ going back there, Li."

"Yeah, the past is in the past."

Iceland sighed and weakly tried to reach over to his nightstand for his soup, but Hong Kong just picked up the bowl and put it on his lap. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," said Hong Kong. "It's a little hot though."

"Thanks for the warning," Iceland mumbled under his breath. Carefully, he lifted the silver spoon, scooping up a bit of the steamy liquid, and subsequently put the liquid into his mouth and swallowed it. "It's actually pretty good. Did Berwald make this?"

"Both Berwald and Lukas did, actually," replied Hong Kong.

"Oh." Iceland blushed a little, although it's barely because of his fever or else the soup. "Well, tell them I said thanks."

Hong Kong let out a sigh then.

This, however, perplexed the Icelander. "What was that for?"

"To be honest," Hong Kong began. "I didn't want to come all the way to here to like, check on you."

Iceland frowned. "Why, is it because you're afraid you'll catch my bug?"

"No, it's because of your incessant whining that always makes my ears bleed."

Iceland's eyes widened in offense. "Well, hence why you imitated Yao on the phone! I do not whine!"

"Yeah, you do, whenever you're sick!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Ice, either you like, totally do or else I get a migraine from almost every time you fall ill."

Iceland groaned in annoyance, but got into a coughing fit once again before settling down. Hong Kong carefully took the pea soup-which has cooled down a little by now-and set it back on the nightstand.

"You probably need some medicine," said Hong Kong.

Iceland said nothing as he reached for a tissue and blew his nose in it.

"And you also said something about someone reading fan fiction out loud to you?"

Iceland crumbled up the white cotton tissue and threw it in the trash can, though he missed and it fell on the floor instead. "Yes…"

Hong Kong bit his lip in thought. "Maybe I can do that?"

The Icelandic teen boy gave his Cantonese counterpart a deadpan look. "Really?"

"Well, yeah…"

Iceland let out a sigh. "All right, there's an iPad under my bed."

Hong Kong got down on his hands and knees, careful not to inhale some of the dust underneath his best friend's bed (given that he has a dust allergy). With precaution, he raised the sleeve of his leather jacket to his hand and pulled out a rectangular-shaped object of a reasonable mass and pulled it out at a steady pace. he carefully wiped off the thin layer of dust with his jacket sleeve and done the same on the other side and every last angle of the iPad. He turned it on (in actuality, it was on standby), slick the lock away with his free finger, only, to his being dumbfounded, to come across a number pad for a passcode of some sort. "Um, Ice, what's like, the password for this?"

"5150," Iceland mumbled in reply.

Hong Kong snickered in amusement. "That's the name of the Touhou doujin circle, Ice."

"Do you or do you not want access to my iPad!?"

"A'right, a'right, I'll put it in." Hong Kong swiftly tapped the following numbers Iceland said and it led him to a background image of Nue Houjuu from Touhou Project with… not that many apps on it, sadly. Hong Kong had to resist making a comment on how the skirt of Nue's dress looked in the wind. "That's not a lot of apps."

There was no response from Iceland. Nevertheless, Hong Kong touched the Google Chrome app and it opened the site immediately. Iceland probably set that as a default website. He then touched "Just In" and it led to a lot of fan fictions of a variety of books, movies, TV shows, video games, and cartoons. He remembers that Iceland loves the Veraverse*, so he filtered the search to "Updated Stories/Hetalia - Axis Powers - English." Subconsciously, Hong Kong would think it was a mistake, as there's a whole abundance of these, but there's just one particular fan fiction that caught his eye: "Black Ice," which is made by the pseudonym that goes by MiraiKyou.

Hong Kong's eyes widened at the preview picture.** Granted, it's guaranteed that it's going to be some typical HongIce fan fiction (he and Iceland are more in-tune with the Hetalia fandom than anybody and everybody else, thanks to them having Tumblr accounts), and yet… Hong Kong cannot avert his gaze from both the picture and title. His eyes darted to the story summary. It read,

"_Iceland wakes up to find out that he is blind, and Hong Kong comes over to help him cope with this. Little do they suspect that Iceland's inner demon is about to wake, and it would shatter even their sense of selves."_

Upon reading this, Hong Kong could not help but feel that this summary sounded grim, but he also can't help but feel drawn to it. On the other hand, Hong Kong's not a fan fiction and creepypasta junkie like Iceland is, so reading this might be a head start.

"So, what did you find?" Iceland asked finally, breaking the somewhat tense silence in the air.

"Just this," replied Hong Kong as he got back up on his feet and showed his best friend the fan fiction.

Iceland just frowned in disapproval. "Oh no no no, no way, nuh-uh!"

Hong Kong just snorted. "Well, in my defense, I couldn't find any updated Veraverse fics, heck, 'Besame Mucho' hasn't updated in around almost a year, so I picked one at random, and this one just caught my eye."

"But this fan fic has us 'together-together'!"

"It doesn't mean that it's not that good, and besides, the summary is interesting enough."

"Still don't wanna."

"Well, take a look at the genres, then." The Cantonese teen city-state faced the screen to Iceland's face. "Here, it says 'Friendship/Angst/Psychological,' so it's perfectly harmless."

Iceland just stared at the screen of his iPad for a good few moments. "I still don't think it's safe."

Hong Kong simply scoffed. "Well, you know I'm going to read it either way!"

"Oh God, please don't."

Hong Kong ignored him as he pulled up Iceland's navy blue office chair to next to his bed and tapped on the link to the fan fiction, eager to read it. The first chapter read "The Blind Prince ~ Darkness." The top part of the chapter read, in bold, "My first co-write, everybody! =D Like I said, it's a co-write with a friend of mine on Tumblr, and it's pretty much based off of the doujinshi 'Arthur in the Dark,' which we are huge fans of, although there are many differences with it in terms of plot, setting, and character interaction. Please enjoy!"

Hong Kong then cleared his throat, and proceeded to read, out loud, "'It was just past dawn in Scandinavia, and all the Nordics, including Sealand, are up and about in the Nordic house. All except for one particular Nordic. The Republic of Iceland, or simply known as Iceland, is still sleeping in the mid-autumn morning glow. Normally, since he is a morning person, he should have awoken by now. Except, this particular time, something felt different.'"


	2. The Blind Prince Darkness

Here I am, guys, with the latest chapter! I think the ending was pretty sucky... Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was just past dawn in Scandinavia, and all the Nordics, including Sealand, are up and about in the Nordic house. All except for one particular Nordic. The Republic of Iceland, or simply known as Iceland, is still sleeping in the mid-autumn morning glow. Normally, since he is a morning person, he should have awoken by now. Except, this particular time, something felt different.

All he could see was darkness. Yes, darkness, as if it was obvious enough. But something about this pitch-black darkness felt unnerving to the boy. It's almost as if he felt numb and yet he could feel everything. He almost felt like he was walking on air. What could be possibly wrong with him?

As Iceland got out from his bed, he almost toppled over, disoriented. He grabbed on the edge of the mattress for support and stood up straight, clad in his navy blue puffin-patterned pajamas. He felt his eyes were a little larger than before and yet somehow, regardless if he has them open or close, all he could see was darkness. Complete pitch-black darkness.

Is all this a dream? Or is it real? Painfully real?

A wave of panic tingled through Iceland's porcelain skin, and his blood rushed from his head. Is he… blind?

That would explain the sudden pitch-black darkness. He cannot see anything, he felt like he is walking through an endless black void where time and space means nothing. He is blind. He had become blind. What will the other Nordics say about this? What about Norway? What about his best Cantonese friend the embodiment of Hong Kong?

Is there a problem with Iceland's country? His people? His government? Or is he suffering a human disease where he goes permanently blind?

Either way, this is starting to scare him. Actually, scratch that; he already _is_ scared. This is all too soon, too sudden, too real. What should Iceland do?

Iceland tried to navigate his way to his bedroom window, which is taking longer than it should have, given the fact that he almost got bitten by his pet puffin-Mr. Puffin-and slowly unlocked the window and opened it, letting the cool autumn breeze hit his face. Though he can no longer see, he could feel the heat of the sun on his pale milky skin despite the wind.

Iceland smiled. "Today's going to be great day," he said. "Even though I just woke up blind." Although he's not sure whether he meant it or not.

Iceland became startled by the knocking on his door. "Little brother," a familiar accented voice said.

The Icelander groaned in annoyance. It always irritated him that Norway sometimes calls him "little brother" just as equally as he loathes calling the latter "big brother." "What is it?"

"You're almost late for breakfast," Norway replied. "Are you sick?"

"No, Lukas, I'm not," said Iceland truthfully, though he doesn't really know how to tell Norway or the others that he woke up suddenly blind. "I just stayed up a little late."

"Either talking to that city boy or else playing Touhou Project on your computer."

"No I'm not!"

"Well, anyway, get yourself dressed and come downstairs."

Iceland waited until Norway's footsteps disappeared. A chill ran down through his spine. What will the other say if they find out that he had just become blind?

Still, though, he can't keep the Nordics waiting forever. He still needs to get dressed and eat. Although, for someone who suddenly becomes blind one morning, that would be easier said than done.

After dressing in his blue denim jeans, white boots (covered by the pant legs), and his white dress shirt, Iceland finally makes his way out of his bedroom to walk down the hallway, putting his hands on the wall for navigation. He reached out one of his hands to touch the finely polished wooden railing and slowly and carefully walks down the stairs to the living room. Upon arriving, Iceland could hear some silverware tinkling with ceramic china dishes and carefully navigated his way to the dining table, having his hands touch whatever object comes his way for leverage. He hoped to the gods that none of the Nordics, especially Sealand and Norway and Denmark, notice this.

As Iceland sat down, he mouthed a "good morning" to the Nordics and smelled something sweet and assumed it's apple cinnamon oatmeal and carefully fumbled for a spoon. When he found it, he carefully took a spoonful out of the bowl and chewed and swallowed it.

"Good morning, Emil," said Finland, in his usual cheery voice. "Did you sleep well?

"Yeah, I did," Iceland replied in a less enthusiastic tone. Usually, he's a little more enthusiastic like your average morning person, but today, this morning, since he's blind, he is down-spirited.

"You sound a little down in the dumps, Ice," said Denmark in a remark. "Ya had a bad dream?"

"N-no, I didn't."

Iceland tried to not look at the other Nordics as he continued eating his breakfast. Will they notice that he's blind? Iceland felt like he was asking himself the same question over and over again.

But then, Iceland remembered that he has today and tonight to spend with Hong Kong. Speaking of, his flight to Scandinavia hasn't arrived yet, and they both agreed to meet at the Nordic home at 8:00 in the morning. It's probably close to 9:40. Maybe his flight was delayed? Then again, if he does arrive, Iceland would tell him that he's become blind and that Hong Kong would keep it a secret from everybody. Though the one thing that worries him the most is how would Hong Kong react.

Iceland's eating pace is starting to slow as he is getting a strange subconscious feeling. Whether it's helplessness or another that he probably doesn't understand, he does not know.

He suddenly got up from his seat and announced, "I'm done."

This pretty much perplexed the Nordics. Finland raised a brow. "Already, Emil?"

"Yes," Iceland replied quickly, and went upstairs to his room (albeit bumping and banging into things and swearing under his breath awhile).

Meanwhile, Denmark, Finland, and even Sweden and Norway, looked confused by Iceland's capricious change of behavior.

"The heck's up with that kid?" Denmark was the first to ask. "He's barely eaten anything."

"I'll go check on him," said Norway, leaving his his and going upstairs to his younger brother's bedroom.

In Iceland's room, he was laying on his side on his bed, but never closed his eyes. He was shivering in fear, although that's not about being blind anymore. He did not feel cold, although his crotch is feeling a little hot. What in the heck could be wrong with him?

Just then he heard a knock on his room. "Emil?"

At least Norway didn't call Iceland "little brother" this time. "What is it?" he said in annoyance, though he sounded depressed at the same time.

Norway opened his bedroom door and closed as he entered. Although he is blind, Iceland could tell that Norway might be concerned. He suddenly felt small, dependent on his older brother. Part of him wanted to be held by him, kiss his hair and stroke it, the other did not want to out of an annoyed fear that Norway would pressure him to call him "big brother."

"Are you not feeling well, little brother?" Iceland jumped a little at the sudden volume change in Norway's voice. He must be a little closer to him. (At least he enjoyed not being called "little brother" while it lasted…)

Actually, Iceland did feel a little sick to the stomach, probably from the stress of the fear he's been experiencing all morning. "No…" he finally replied. Maybe he should tell Norway the truth. It's not like he can hide the fact that he is blind forever.

"Do you have a fever?" Norway asked next.

"No, I don't feel hot," replied Iceland.

"Is one of your volcanoes erupting again?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Is there a problem with your economy or else your government?"

"No, not that I know of."

Iceland felt himself relax a little upon hearing Norway's gentle voice. At the very least, since he can't see him, he would find comfort being held by him and listening to him. While he doesn't want him, Hong Kong, or the others to know, Norway does make a good older brother to Iceland.

"Emil, please look at me when I'm talking to you," Norway said a little sternly.

As much as Iceland wanted to, he couldn't tell where Norway's face is. Maybe if he can trace his voice…

"Emil, can you hear me?" Norway said again, this time his tone a little harsher. "Will you please look at me?"

Iceland sat up and tried to pinpoint where Norway is, even though he knows it's totally fruitless to begin with. _Come on,_ he thought. _Notice something, dammit! Notice that I'm suddenly blind!_

"Are you spacing out?" he heard Norway ask.

"No, I'm not," Iceland replied solemnly.

"You look like you are. Can you please look at me just this once?"

Iceland exhaled silently. If Norway's not gonna notice, then he is going to

spill the beans.

"I can't," he said quietly.

There was a brief moment of silence before Norway responded, "You can't? Why?"

Iceland took a silent breath. "Because I'm blind," he replied slowly.

There was a heart-gripping silence in the room. All Iceland could hear was his heart beating at a steady pace, and Norway's breathing. Those sounds were all to deafening to him.

"B...blind?" Norway asked at last, cutting the silence.

Iceland only nodded. Personally, he doesn't have a clue on how he became blind, it just… happened.

"Was there something going on with your people?" the Norwegian man asked quietly.

"...no," Iceland replied in shame.

"What about your government? Your economy? Or else your climate?"

"No," Iceland said again.

"Then how did you become blind?"

Iceland took a shaky breath. "To be honest, Lukas… I don't even have a clue. I just… woke up… like this."

Norway sighed. "This is truly troublesome."

"I could probably be suffering from some disease humans sometimes can have," Iceland speculated.

"I don't know about that," said Norway. "Although an eye disease that leaves you blind is a distinct possibility."

Iceland sighed in hopelessness and laid down on his bed again. "This is so unfair… especially when Li Xiao will be coming by and visit anytime soon…"

Neither brother said anything for a while. "Refresh my memory, at what time did you and Li Xiao agree to meet up?"

"Around eight," replied Iceland.

"Well, the clock reads it's nearly ten in the morning," Norway observed. "I think there might be a problem with the flight…"

"Well, go and turn my phone on and see if there are any text messages from him. Please."

Norway willingly complied, knowing that Iceland probably won't remember where he keeps his cell phone charged. Eventually, he found it, which is a titanium Samsung Galaxy, and turned it on, revealing a wallpaper background of one of Loreena McKennit's* albums. In his inbox, it seems that Iceland had gotten one text message from Hong Kong, although it's written in text speak, much to Norway's annoyance.

"Did I get a message from Li Xiao?" Iceland asked.

"Yes," Norway replied. "But it's written in text speak."

"Just read one word that's most sensible, then."

"It says 'late.'"

"So he's running late."

"Probably. Although…"

Iceland froze. "Although" what? Was there something in the text that Norway didn't tell him?

Finally he sighed. "Can you at least do me one small favor?"

Norway raised a brow. "What would that be?"

Iceland got up into a sitting position on the edge of his bed and hung his head, although he is starting to feel fatigued from seeing pitch-black darkness for too long. "Don't tell anyone about me suddenly becoming blind… please?"

"Why not?" Norway asked.

Iceland could feel his face redden a little and heat up. He swallowed hard. "Because I don't want more people doting on me than you, Lukas. You're… you're all I have."

"But what about Li Xiao?"

"Li Xiao… he doesn't need to know about this." Now Iceland is starting to have that sinking annoyed feeling that Norway will tell him to call him "big brother."

Just then, he felt Norway's hand place itself on his silvery-white hair and his fingers stroking it. Iceland tries to savor the touch.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," said Norway.

"Thanks…" said Iceland.

"You're welcome."

The Icelander felt his older brother kiss his forehead. While he doesn't want to show it, it's nice of him to look out for him.

Just then the two brothers heard someone knock on the door. Norway quickly exited Iceland's room and rushed downstairs.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong was standing in front of the door, waiting for a response. It was 10:01 on his phone and he was still fuming a little from the flight that was delayed for nearly an hour before it took off from the airport back in his city. He sent Iceland a text about it, but he doesn't know if he will get it. Either way, this would totally put a dent in their plans for today and tonight. At eight in the morning, they would meet, go to the whole country of Iceland (the only thing they've toured through was the penis museum, and while Iceland takes great pride in it, the animal penises nauseated Hong Kong) to explore the landmass for some sightseeing for the beautiful glaciers, majestic North Atlantic puffins, the mountaintops of sleeping volcanoes. And at the end of the day, after the sun sets, they would go to an inn and do some stargazing on the roof. But, since the flight delay, it would most likely cause problems in their schedule.

When the door opened, it was actually Sealand, who looked ecstatic to see him, and cried out Hong Kong's human name and hugged his torso.

Hong Kong let out a chuckle as he hugged the tween micronation back. "Hi, Peter."

Sealand let go and bounced up and down in excitement. "Hi, Li Xiao! Are you gonna babysit me today? Huh?"

Hong Kong couldn't help but smile in amusement as he ruffled Sealand's wheat-blond hair. "No, I'm not. I'm gonna spend the day with my best friend!"

"That sounds fun!" Sealand exclaimed.

Hong Kong gave out a wink. "It is."

"Who's this I hear at the front door?" asked a familiar Norwegian-accented voice that's coming down the stairs.

When Norway revealed his form, his desaturated blue-purple eyes gleamed with disappointment. But also worry.

Hong Kong gently pushed Sealand aside and walked up to Norway. "So, is Ice ready?"

Norway pressed his lips slightly together before responding, "Li Xiao, I don't think it's a good time."

The Cantonese teen scoffed. "Good or not, we agreed to go out together. Even though my plane took like, an hour to get itself off the ground… why, is Ice sick?"

This time Norway hesitated. "No. Emil isn't sick."

"Did he like, totally forgot about our day we spent last Tuesday night planning out?"

"I don't believe he did."

"Let me go see him, then."

Hong Kong brushed past Norway without the latter even trying to stop him (which confused Hong Kong a little, but nonetheless heeded on upstairs).

Norway felt his heart sink, but he followed Hong Kong upstairs anyway. _I suppose Emil would tell him the truth sooner or later,_ he thought. _I don't really know how this would end, though…_

Back in his bedroom, Iceland tried to navigate himself towards the door, after hearing the front door open and close (who might have done that, anyway? Sealand? Norway?). There are no smells nor distant sounds to guide him so he has to rely on his memory on where he's supposed to go.

Unfortunately, the task itself is easier said than done. Iceland keeps on tripping over his feet and bumping into things, and hitting his toes against nearby objects. At least his keyboard isn't in his room; otherwise should he bump into it, it would have come crashing down!

Just as he finally made his way to his door and felt for a knob, the door suddenly swung open, hitting the poor Icelander into his head. The boy winced in pain as he fell to his carpeted floor, bottom first, and held his forehead in pain.

Hong Kong looked surprised but also apologetic. He kneeled in front of Iceland. "Jeez, Ice, I'm like, so sorry! I totally didn't realize you were so close to your door!"

Iceland removed his hand and looked straight on, despite his blindness. The voice with a British accent… Hong Kong?

Iceland felt relieved as he was able to hear his best friend. But at the same time, he felt a slight pain in his chest as he might not be able to interpret what Hong Kong looks, other than his fair skin, loose brunette hair swishing ever so easily, faded gold eyes and thick eyebrows loosely matching his hair color. Because of his sudden blindness, he tries to savor them for as long as he could in his memory.

Hong Kong's image made Iceland's chest warm up. He smiled to himself (actually, Hong Kong is probably looking at him weirdly by now), holding the image in his brain longer and longer. And yet, there is an unknown, unfamiliar slightly throbbing sensation settling itself in his groin and-

"Hey," said Hong Kong as he flicked Iceland's cheek, thinking he was only staring at him blankly and gave a seemingly creepy smile on his face. "Aisu, like, knock it off, you're being creepy."

Iceland winced at the dull, jiggling pain in his cheek and tried to massage the pain away.

"What…?" he asked.

Hong Kong frowned as he repeated, word per word, "You. Are. Spacing. Out. And it's effing creepy."

Iceland blushed in embarrassment. Not only he was thinking unfamiliar thoughts that he doesn't understand and yet his groinial area feels like it's enlarging, but he also looked like he was staring blank- Wait, hold the phone. So Hong Kong wasn't actually noticing that he was blind?

"Ahh. Sorry," Iceland replied finally as he was getting up, kneeing the brunette Asian in the nose in the process.

"Ow!" said Hong Kong as he was getting up as well. "Watch it!"

"S-sorry," Iceland said again, his head hanging down. _Come on, notice something off, you dingus! _

"And your eyes look really off!" said Hong Kong, which made Iceland perk his head up. "And they look clouded! You've been up all night, or something?"

Iceland steadily found it hard to breathe, so he shook his head quickly as a response.

Hong Kong simply blinked once. "You… haven't? Are you so sure? Usually, you're a morning person!"

"_I'm blind, Li Xiao,"_ Iceland wanted to say. The sentence repeated over and over, begging for his mouth to release them. But it seems as if some magical force was sealing his lips shut, so the words themselves would not come out. Iceland suddenly wondered why the room has gotten a little colder.

"Emil, what's wrong?" asked Hong Kong, using Iceland's human name. "You look nervous. You're not hiding something are you?"

"No," Iceland manage to strain out. That was a total lie.

"Ice, don't lie to me, I know something is up, just spill the beans!"

"Li Xiao?"

Hong Kong turned swiftly to Norway, who was on top of the stairs, the look of concern evident on his face.

"Come downstairs," he said. "I think you deserve the truth."

Hong Kong gave one last worried look to Iceland before complying and followed Norway downstairs to the living room.

Iceland released the air trapped within him for what felt like far too long and sat down on his bedroom floor, cross-legged. This would probably be the saddest and most frustrating time of his life.


End file.
